


i call this hearth a home

by virdant



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Jedi Culture & Tradition (Star Wars), Planet Stewjon (Star Wars), reference to microaggressions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27190927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: “Where are you really from?”Anakin does not understand. He does not understand what his words mean, does not understand how they strip the Temple down to mere masonry. He does not understand that the life that Obi-Wan has chosen matters more than the people who bore him, matters more than the twisting and twining threads of genetics that gave shape to him. Anakin does not understand.--Obi-Wan is a Jedi, and the Temple is his home.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 80
Kudos: 404
Collections: Jedi-Friendly





	i call this hearth a home

**Author's Note:**

> i had a list of fics i was going to write this week and i wrote none of them and wrote this instead. sorry my pals, sometimes life catches you by surprise and you play mmo for a week instead of writing.

“Where are you really from?”

The question pulls Obi-Wan short. He’s heard it in a dozen permutations throughout his life, but he has never expected to hear it here, in the Temple. He has heard it from nosy diplomats and businessfolk interested in currying favor. He has heard it from flirtatious men and women alike.

But he has never heard it from another Jedi.

Anakin does not know better, he reminds himself. He was born on Tatooine, raised there. He thinks it an innocent question. He does not question his words.

This is a learning moment. This is a teaching moment. 

In the past, Obi-Wan has said many things. He has said, firmly but mildly, that he is a Jedi, and he knows no home other than the Temple. He has said, with quiet persistence, that where he was born does not matter, what matters is the life he has chosen to live. He has said, without grief and with only joy, that who bore him does not matter, but the Masters who raised him are his parents, his fellow jedi are his brothers and sisters, the older Masters his uncles and aunts, the younger initiates and padawans his nephews and nieces.

He has said many things, all to deflect, but he cannot do so here.

Anakin does not understand. He does not understand what his words mean, does not understand how they strip the Temple down to mere masonry. He does not understand that the life that Obi-Wan has chosen matters more than the people who bore him, matters more than the twisting and twining threads of genetics that gave shape to him. Anakin does not understand.

He takes a breath, slow and steady. “Why do you ask, Anakin?”

Anakin shrugs. He does not understand, Obi-Wan reminds himself.

He is a Jedi. He was raised here, in this Temple, in the creche. He has no memory from before the Temple, no ties of kinship to anybody from his birth planet. His home is the Temple. His kin are the Jedi who live among its hall.

“I am a Jedi,” he says. There is no other sentence that can encompass everything. This is where he is from, this is where he will stay, this is where he will make his home. He knows no other life, he _wants_ no other life. He has chosen this life: to dedicate himself to the Force, to dedicate himself to doing good. 

“I mean, sure, you’re a Jedi, but where are you _really_ from? Where are you born?”

Anakin looks at him, with demand and expectation. Nothing Obi-Wan has said, nothing he will say, will help. Anakin is set in his ways, set in his beliefs. He wants to know where Obi-Wan was born, wants to know the people who bore Obi-Wan, wants to know what makes Obi-Wan not a Jedi. He wants to set aside Obi-Wan’s life in favor of the flimsy ties of blood and genetics.

Anakin demands, and Obi-Wan does not know what to say.

The other Jedi, the ones raised in the creche like him, the ones who know what it is like to embrace a culture as their own, the ones who know what it is like to look back on a homeland with fondness but distance—they have never asked, not in those words. They have asked where he was born, but it has always come with the understanding that it is window dressing to Obi-Wan’s ties to the Temple. They have asked if he remembers the parents that bore him, but it is with the familial affection of their shared kinship.

Anakin’s words are familiar, but not from a Jedi.

He has heard them from politicians, heard them from businessmen, heard them from the many other sentients around the galaxy, that see the Jedi as tools, that see the Jedi as a duty, that see the Jedi as other. He has heard these words with scorn and thinly veiled disgust. He has heard these words in a hundred permutations.

He can tell Anakin: can tell him that he was born on a planet called Stewjon, can tell him of the planet’s temperate climate, of the humidity that swamped the land in the summer, of the summer typhoons that swept across the coasts along the equator. He can tell Anakin about his parents who gave him to the Jedi in hopes he would have a better life. He can tell Anakin about the drumming that heralded his arrival, and the drumming that heralded his departure.

But that is not where he is from.

The drumming he remembers is that of when he was an initiate in the creche, practicing the patterns with his brothers and sisters and cousins. He does not remember the summer typhoons, only the whines of speeder engines in Coruscant atmosphere. He does not remember humid summers and snow in winters, only the controlled weather of Coruscant, the cold of the caves of Ilum.

Obi-Wan is a Jedi, and he is from the Coruscant Temple.

“I am a Jedi,” he says, again. “This is my home.”

**Author's Note:**

> ~~can't let the rest of weird hours crew kick hornet nestss on their own, here's my contribution to some hornets nest kicking~~
> 
> ~~sw fandom stop emphasizing where jedi are "really" from pls i already get this enough from random folks when i walk in the park i don't need it from my escapism place~~
> 
> want to chat? here's how you can find me:
> 
>   * find me in salt flats
>   * Follow me on twitter [@virdant](http://www.twitter.com/virdant/)
>   * [Like & retweet on twitter](https://twitter.com/virdant/status/1320347357695754242)
>   * Comment and kudo below
> 



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